Psalm 16

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A Michtam (מכתם) of David

1-2    Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. ² You said to Adonai, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from You.”

3-4   As for the holy ones in the land/earth, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all [M]my delight. ⁴ [May] the sorrows of those who run after another [god] multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.

אדיר (adir) = “majestic” / “mighty” / “excellent”

5-7   Adonai is my chosen portion and my cup; You guide my destiny. ⁶ The ropes have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. ⁷ I bless Adonai who gives me counsel; in the night also my kidneys admonish me.

תמך (tamach) = “guide” / “support”

יסר (yasar) = “admonish”

מוסר[musar] = [“discipline / instruct”]

8-9   I have set Adonai before me always …

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… because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. ⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices, also my flesh dwells secure.

כבוד (chavod) = “glory” / “weight”

10-11   For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let Your holy one see corruption. [“Acts 13:35”] ¹¹ You make known to me the (a) path of life. In (b) Your presence there is fullness of joy; at (c) Your right hand are pleasures forever.

Path —- Life

God’s Presence —- Fullness of Joy

God’s Right Hand —- Pleasures Evermore

REFERENCES:

Verse 1

Psalm 16:8  I have set Adonai always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Verse 3

Psalm 8:1,9  Adonai, our Lord, how majestic [אדיר, adir] is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens…Adonai, our Lord, how majestic [אדיר, adir] is Your name in all the earth!

1^st app. – Exodus 15:10  You blew with Your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty[אדיר, adir] waters.

Verse 4

Leviticus 17:3-4  If any one of the house of Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp, and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to Adonai in front of the tabernacle of Adonai, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people.

“A hasty person is a depressed person.” – R’ Nachman of Breslov

Verse 5

Psalm 116:12-13  What shall I render to Adonai for all His benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of Adonai.

1^st app. – Genesis 48:17  When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father’s hand to move [תמך, tamach] it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.

Verse 7

Psalm 7:9  Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may You establish the righteous – You who test the hearts and kidneys, O righteous God!

Proverbs 1:7  The fear of Adonai is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and musar [מוסר].

Verse 9

1^st app. – Genesis 31:1  Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has gained all this glory [כבוד, chavod].”

Verse 10

Acts 13:35-37  “Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.’ For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.”